The veteran film and television actor passed away Monday at age 92.
The C&I crew would like to extend best wishes and deepest sympathies to the friends and family of actor Stuart Whitman, who passed away Monday at his home in Montecito, California. He was 92.
A San Francisco native, Whitman appeared in dozens of films and television productions during a career that spanned five decades. He made an especially strong impression as the hero of the 1967-68 TV western Cimarron Strip. As David Hofstede wrote in our August/September 2013 issue: “Everything about Cimarron Strip was grand and cinematic, from its 90-minute running time to Stuart Whitman’s rugged, self-assured portrayal of Marshal Jim Crown. He was one man patrolling 10 million acres, and no one ever doubted he was up to the task.”
Whitman also appeared in such films as Budd Boetticher’s 7 Men from Now (1956) with Randolph Scott and Lee Marvin; Richard Fleischer’s These Thousand Hills (1959) with Don Murray, Richard Egan and Lee Remick; Don Siegel’s Hound-Dog Man (1959) with Fabian and Carol Lynley; Gordon Douglas’ Rio Conchos (1964), with Richard Boone, Anthony Franciosa and Jim Brown; Alexander Singer’s Captain Apache (1971) with Lee Van Cleef and Carroll Baker; and William F. Claxton’s cult-favorite guilty pleasure Night of the Lepus (1972) with Janet Leigh and Rory Calhoun. He co-starred twice with John Wayne, in the 1961 western The Comancheros and the 1962 World War II epic The Longest Day.
During the Golden Age of TV Westerns, Whitman guested on episodes of The Roy Rogers Show, Gunsmoke, Zane Grey Theater, Trackdown and Have Gun — Will Travel. More recently, he played Pa Kent in the syndicated TV series Superboy (1988-92), and an old friend of Chuck Norris’ title character in Walker: Texas Ranger. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he made his last onscreen appearance in the 2000 CBS movie The President's Man, which starred Norris. Whitman reportedly made a fortune in real estate and retired in 2000 to his 35-acre ranch in Santa Barbara.
Whitman’s family has requested that fans and well-wishers make donations in his name to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
